130 WOMEN AND SOCIAL INJUSTICE
there are 350 unhappy sisters in a population of 20,000,
there may be 5,250,000 in all India. But I flatter myself
with the belief that four-fifths of the population of India,
which live in the villages and are purely agricultural, are
not touched by the vice. The lowest figure for all India
would, therefore, be 1,050,000 women living on the sale
of their own honour. Before these unfortunate sisters can
be weaned from their degradation, two conditions have to
be fulfilled. We men must learn to control our passions,
and. these women should be found a calling that would
enable them to earn an honourable living. The movement
of non-co-operation is nothing, if it does not purify us and
restrain our evil passions. And there is no occupation but
spinning and weaving which all can take up without over-
crowding. These sisters, the vast majority of them, need
not think of marriage. They agreed that they could not.
They must, therefore, become the true s'annyasinis of
India. Having no cares of life but of service, they can spin
and weave to their hearts' content. One million fifty thou-
sand women diligently weaving every day for eight hours'
means that number of rupees per day for an impoverished
India. These sisters told me they earned as much as two
rupees per day. But then they admitted that they had
many things needed to pander to man's lust, which they
could discard when they took to spinning and weaving,
reverting to a natural life. By the time I had finished with
my interviewers they knew, without my telling them, why
they could not be office-bearers in Congress Committees if
they did not give up their sinfulness. None could officiate
at the altar of Swaraj who did not approach it with pure
hands and a pure heart
Young India, 15-9-21